LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- An aircraft disaster in the 1920s compelled a family of Italian immigrants to pursue another business venture -- the manufacture of water pumps.
The pump manufacturing business started more than 50 years ago by the Jacuzzi brothers has grown to a company worth about $125 million. The firm is the nation's largest manufacturer of whirlpool baths.
The seven Jacuzzi brothers from Casarsa Della Delizia, Italy, immigrated to the United States early in the 20th century and established a firm that pioneered the design and manufacture of the wooden airplane propeller used during World War I.
The Jacuzzi firm built the first closed-cabin monoplane -- the forerunner of modern aircraft design. But an aircraft test flight disaster in the 1920s resulted in the death of one of the brothers - Giocondo.
Grieving family members dropped the aircraft business and began concentrating on a 1926 invention by Rachel Jacuzzi. The second business pursuit would result in a growing, worldwide industry in the manufacture of pumps, swimming pool equipment, jet propulsion systems and the company's latest entry in the market -- the gas grill.
While the company's jet-pump whirlpool bath has gained almost generic status, Raymond Horan, president of Jacuzzi Inc., says the Jacuzzi Whirlpool Bath Division is only a part of the company's operations.
The manufacturing company was incorporated in California in 1920. Jacuzzi's whirlpool bath division headquarters remains in California, but corporate headquarters are in Little Rock and have been since the early 1960s.
The move to Little Rock was unusual at a time the Arkansas Gazette has described as the 'industrial drought' following the school integration crisis at Central High School in 1957.
Arkansas legislators passed Act 9 of 1960 that allowed cities to issue revenue bonds to finance industrial construction projects -- a measure designed to attract industries to the state. Little Rock voters in August, 1961,approved a $1.4 million bond issue to finance construction of a Jacuzzi plant in Little Rock.
In 1961, Jacuzzi broke the 'industrial drought' by becoming the first new industry to locate in Little Rock since 1957.
Horan said the move to Little Rock did not hinge on the bond issuance, but it was an added attraction to relocate in Arkansas. He said the company learned about the availability of bonds while it was in the process of moving to Arkansas.
'We moved here to consolidate and centralize our manufacturing facilities,' Horan said. 'We were at a disadvantage in serving a national market with the product lines that we were manufacturing during that period. Based on a study, we felt it would be advantagious economically and service-wise to consolidate those operations -- to locate them in an area central to our national market.'
Jacuzzi now employs about 650 workers in Arkansas. Most of them work at the Little Rock plant which builds pumps and water systems, swimming pool equipment and marine jet propulsion equipment. The company operates another plant in Lonoke, Ark.
From 1920 to 1979, Jacuzzi was a family-operated company. In 1979, the company was acquired by Kidde Inc., an acquisition that Horan said has been beneficial because of the parent corporation's financial capabilities and successful growth patterns.
Jacuzzi has shown growth every year since its establishment in 1920, Horan said. In the past 10 years, the company has grown by an average of 15 percent compounded annually, 'and the growth from this point on should be along the same curve,' he said.
Of the products manufactured by Jacuzzi, Horan admits the whirlpool bath product line is the most visible.
'It's more publicly recognized than our other products because of consumer-level advertising that's been involved with that product,' he said. ''Jacuzzi' is not a generic name; it is the name of the company. Yes, that product has grown very rapidly in the past five or 10 years.'
But Jacuzzi's primary product is water pumps and accessories for independent water systems on both the industrial and consumer levels, he said. The manufacture and marketing of swimming pool equipment in the mid 1950s followed a natural progression from the manufacture of swimming pool circulating pumps and filters.
Entry into the gas grill industry also follows the company's manufacturing trend, Horan said. Marketing of the grills, manufactured by the Jacuzzi Brothers Division of the company, will begin early this year.
'It's not unrelated to the channels of distribution involved with swimming pool equipment and to a degree whirlpool products,' Horan said. 'It's what we consider a leisure product.'
During inflationary periods of 1973-74 and 1980-81, Horan said, the company's sales were affected by a general depression in the economy - primarily in declines in the housing and construction industries.
'We've continued our pattern of overall growth. We have not seen a year when our rate of growth has declined. But our rate of growth in 80-81 has been tempered,' he said.
